Washing and sterilizing device



30 192 Aug 7 w. c. FLINTHAM ET AL WASP-[TNG AND STERILIZING DEVICE FiledMay 5. 1926/ 5 sheets-sheet 1 Aug. f 3o,- 1927.

w. c. FLINTHAM ET A1. WASHING AND STERILIZING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Shve'c 2Filed May 5. 1926 30 1927. l Aug w. c. FLINTHAM :TAL

WASHING AND STERILIZING DEVICE Filed M'y s. 1926v 3 Sheets-Sheet 3lHIIIIII Patented Aug. 30, 1927.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM C. FLINTHAM AND ELMER AH.

lDreamtime.Uefa, or DENVER, COLORADO;

sAID BRIDENBAUGH AssIGNoR 'ro SAID FLINTHAM.

WASHING AND .STERILIZING DEVICE.

Application inedY may `3,

taurants and other places where a large number of drinking glasses orcups are used.

lt is thel object of this invention to produce a machine that will beentirely auto-k matic in its operation and into whichy soiled glasses orcups may be placed and which will wash, sterilize and rinse them anddeliver them ready for use.

The washing is accomplished by means of some cleansing solution such assoap and water, the sterilizing byy means of some sterilizing liquidsuch as a solution of NaOH or some of the solutions that contain readilyreleasable chlorine gas, while the rinsing is accomplished by means ofclean hot water. Y

The invention can be' most `clearly described and will be most readilyunderstood when reference is had to the accompanying drawing-where thepreferred embodiment thereof has been illustrated and in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the assembled apparatus Fig. 2 is a sectiontaken on line 2--2, Fig. 1; l

Fig. Sis a plan view of the lower structure after the upper portion hasbeen removed;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken on line 4-4, Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the nozzle for spraying the sterilizingliquid taken on the line 5-5, of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a section Fig. 2;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary plan view and section looking downwardly in the'direc-v tion of the arrows 7 in Fig. 2; j

Fig. 8 is a section throughy one of the spacer plates and is taken online 8-8, Fig. 7; and

Fig. 9 is a partial top plan view of a slightly modiiied construct-ion.

This device consists of a tank having spaced end walls 1, 1L andspacedside walls 2, 2 and a bottom 3 which is secured to the lower edgesofthe ends 1a and sides 2 and form with them a water tighty tank whichVrests upon the inturned flanges 4 of the 1926. Serial No. 106,343.

angle iron frame which inturn is supported onfthe legs 5. A frame 6 ofchannel iron rests upon the top of `the sides and end 1nembers of thetank so as to form an enclosed space and to provide a smooth surface onwhich the angle iron frame 7 rests and to which it may be secured bymeans of screws S. The tank is divided into three compartments A, B andC by means of a transverse wall 9 and a longitudinal wall 10. Each ofthese compartments has a drain 11 all of which are connected by suitablemeans to the drain pipe 12 (Fig. `2). Each of the compartments has beenshown as provided with an inlet pipe and valve 15S-which is controlledby a float 14. The purpose of these float controlled inlets is toautomatically maintain the liquid in the several chambers at apredetermined level. It is to be understood,

however, that these float operated valves may be dispensed with andother valves substituted. V'Each chamber is also provided with anelectric heater 15v whose operation is controlled by means of the switch16. Secured to the legs 5 at one end of the tank is a plate 17 carryingbrackets 18 and 19. Secured vto the bracket. 18 are three rotary gearkpumps 20a, 201 and 20 which have a common drive shaft 21 that is'connected to the shaft 22 of the motor 23 by means of a coupling 24. Aworm 25 is either formed integral with or connected to the shaft 21 andserves to rotate the worm gear 26 that is enclosed inv the casing 27 andis secured to the shaft 28 that in turn carries the belt wheel 29. Abelt 30 connects the wheel 29 with the wheel 31 (Fig. 4). rIhe shaft 32is secured to the arm 35 which is pivoted to the shaft 36 and has itsfree enl provided with a transverse'notch 37 with 'which the clampingdevice 38 cooperates so as to permit the arm to be moved about its'pivot36 for the purpose of tightening the belt 30. Another gear wheel 39ofthe saine size as wheel 34 is 'securedto the shaft 40 and meshes withthe gear 34 in the manner shown in Fig.

4. It is now evident that the motor when in yoperation rotates the gearpumps and rotates shafts 36a and 40a in opposite directions. Vpipe 4.1.extends from the intake port ofthe pump 20 to the strainer 42a in acompartment A. A similar pipe 41b eX- tends from the intake port ofpumpQ()b to the strainer 42b in @Qmpartrrient B and a pipe llc connect-sthe intake port of pump 20@ to the strainer 42C in conipartment C.Frames 13b and 43C are secured between wall l and wall irL o1con.ipz-.itinents B and C respectively in the manner shown in Figs. 3and 6. lNorms dell) and scare rotatably mounted in fram-es 43h and 43Crespectively and are respectively attached to the shafts 36(L and lO.Each et the frames l/3b and 48 have upwardly extendingl spaced parallelflanges l5 to each ot which sprinkler head i6 is connected. rlhesesprinkler heads h ve each a row ot openings 47. The sprinkler heads onthe trame 43" are connected by means ot a pipe 46h to the delivery portot the pump 2Gb while pipe e6 connects the sprinkler heads on trame 413Cwith the dclivery port oit pump 26, i9 (Figs. 2 and 3) extend from oneside to the other ot compartment A. and serve to support a sprinklerhead which comprises two hollow parallel curved arms 50 and 5l that areconnected at their ends in the manner shown in Fig. 3. i The arms 50 and5l have their upper sides provided with a number ot open ings 52 and areconnected with the delivery port et' pump 20 by means ot a pipe '481kllllhen the compartments n, l and C contain liquid and the pumps 2O arerotated, the pumps will torce liquid into the sprinkler heads towhichthey are connected and take liquid from the compartments through thestrainers.

A metal trame, comprising* two parallel members 53 and ll integrallyconnected by means of parts has the member ll provided with a downwardlyextending;` liange 56 thatis adapted to rest upon the upper surface otthe angle 7 (Fig. 6). lt will be noted that these 'traine members areprovided on their upper adjacent surfaces with rabw bets 57 and 5S thatform a continuous track in which the circular supporting member 59 andthe spacing' plates 60 are guided. The periphcries ot the disks 59 areprovided with grooves 6l for the reception ol' the concave edges ot thespacing; plates 60 (Fig: 7). The sizes of the disks 59 and ot thespacing plates 60 are such that the niiunl'ier employed will iill thespace between the track members and 54 in the manner shown in Fig. `7.From Fig. 8 it will be seen that the plates 60 are provided on theirundersides with rollers 62 against which the peripheries of the disks 59engage. and which therefore keeps them properly spaced at all times.Attenti-on is called at this point to the roller 63 that projectsdownwardly 1from the center of each ot the disks 39. These rollersproject downwardly so tar that they engage the grooves in the worms il@and iet-C in the manner shown in Fig. 6 so that when the worms arerotated they will propel the disks 59 along the track formed by members53 and 54. The

worms are preferably longer than the distance between the rollers 69 sothat. a roller willalways be in Contact. with the worm. lt will be notedthat the worms let-l and lac are respective lett and right hand. Anangleiron trame 64 is secured to the lugs 65 oit the frame member by means ofscrews 66 while a similar langle iron :trame 67 is secured to lugs 68 ettrame member 54C by means et screws 69. Sheet metal wall members 70 and7l are secured to the upright flanges ot an Oles 64 and 67 respectivelyand support a cover 72 whose downwardly eX- tending` flanges 7 3 projectdown between the sides 70 and 7l in the manner shown in Fig. 6. Thatportion o1 the walls 70 and 7l .that lies to the right of' the line Fig.l is only of about one-halt the' height as the remaining portion and theupper edges are rolled in the manner .sh-own in 2 and 6 and indicated bynumeral 74. A rectangular enclosure formed by end walls 75. 76 and sidewalls 77 and 78 is supported on the angle iron trame 7 (Fig. 6) andsupports a drain board 79 whose end and sides are supported on theinturned langes 8() of the supporting trame 8l.

The motor, pumps,y belt and gears are enclosed by end members 82, 83,side S4- and top' 85. A switch 86 `serves to start andV stop the motorand valves 87. S8 and 69 control the pipes through which water isadmitted to the several chambers. As has been before intimated.r thetloat valves 13 may be omitted and the admission ot the water controlledentirely by valves 87, 88 and 89. y

Fig. 9 shows how the device can by a slight modiiication be made toautomatically deliver the washed and sterilized glasses 9() onto the topv85. This is accomplished by providing a gap in the outer wall 7l andproviding a detlector rail 91 so that'the glasses or cups will strikethe detlector 91 and be directed onto the top which may be provided withan upwardly extending wall 92 which prevents the glasses from being'pushed otll.

Let us new assume that the machine has been assembled in the .mannerdescribed and thatthe compartments A, B and C are each illed with waterto the top of the overflow pipes ll. The lwater in the compartment C ismixed with soap so as to form a strong cleansing solution, while thewater in compartment B is usually clear water which is used for rinsingpurposes. In compartment A I use some sterilizing solution such as astrong sodium hydroxide solution or some liquid that carries Achlorinegas which it readily gives up. There are many such sterilizing solutionson the market today. Any of these can be used for the purpose I havein-mind. The solutions in the diderent compartments is nowraised to theheat desired by means of the electric ieaters. llhen the motor isstarted the pumps will be put into operation and these will takesolutions from the compartments to which they are connected and torcethe same out through the openings in the sprinkler heads. At the sametime the shafts 4i() and 36 will be rotated thereby rotat-ing the wormsad" and aac. These worms acting upon the rollers 63 will cause the disks59 and the spacing plates GO to be moved around the track in thev mannerheretofore described. The glasses or cups which are to be washed andsterilized are placed upside down on the disks 59 and when they passover the sprinkler head 196 that en: closes the worm illu they will besprayed by the cleansing solution. They will then pass on until theycome over the sprinkler head comprising the two arms 5l and 52 wherethey will be subjected to a spray of sterilizing solution after whichthey are brought into place above the sprinkler headthat. encloses theworm 44th where they are subject ed to a spray of clean rinsing water.After this they may be removed by hand from the rotating disks andplaced upon the dain board T9, or, if the machine is made in then'ianner indicated in Figure 9, the glasses will pass out upon the top85 where they will accumulate and from which they may be removedwhenever desired.

From the above it willA be seen that we have provided a washing andsterilizing machine that is automatic in its operation and that willcontinuously pass the glasses and cups that are to be washed andsterilized successively over cleansing, sterilizing and rinsingsolutions and deliver them in a thoroughly cleansed and sterilizedcondition upon the support 85.

lt is apparent that a machine ot this type will be of great use inconnection with restaurants' or soda water fountains or any place wherea large number of drinking glasses or cups are used and where it isdesirable to obtain thorough sterilization as well as cleansing.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new is: v

l. .A conveyor comprising a track formed from two parallel members, aplurality of perforated circular disks slidaloly mounted on said trackmembers, a spacing plate located between each pair of radjacent disksand means for maintaining said disks and plates in the same plane. l

2. A conveyor comprising an endless track formed from, two endlessvmembers spaced from each other, a plurality of circular disks supportedon the track members, said disks having peripheral grooves,

spacing plates having their opposite sides curved so as to engage in thegrooves, 4each of said plates having two downwardly eX tending rollersadapted to serve as spac :s for the disks and means for Causing saiddisks and spacer plate to be'moved along said track.

3. A conveyor comprising an endless 'track formed from two endlessmembers spaced from each other, a plurality of circular disks supportedon the track members, said disks-having peripheral grooves,spacingplates having their` opposite sides curved so as to engage in thegrooves, each of said plates having two downwardly eX- tending rollersadapted to serve as spacers yfor the disks and means for causing saiddisks and spacer plates to be moved along said track,` said meanscomprising a worm located beneath the track, means on the disks forengaging the worm and means for rotating the worm.

d. A conveyor comprising a track formed v:trom two parallel members, aplurality of perforated circular disks slidably secured to the trackmembers, said disksY having a peripheral groove and spacing plateshaving opposite sides concave and adapted to fit said grooves.

5. Aconveyor comprisinga track formed from two parallel members, aplurality of perforated circular disks slidably secured to the trackmembers, said disks having` a peripheral groove, spacing 'plates havingo-pposite sides concave and adapted to lit said grooves and spacingrollers extending downwardly from said plates.

In testimony whereof we aiiiX our signatures.

WILLIAM o. FLINTHAM. ELMER H. BRIDENBAUGH.

